Tamara Cotman no longer considers herself an educator — and doesn’t want to.
She is convinced she will be cleared of her conviction two years ago on racketeering charges for her role in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
Of the 35 people charged in the case, only Cotman and one other former educator, Angela Williamson, have filed a challenge with the Georgia Court of Appeals. Their lawyers are scheduled to argue the case in May.
Friday marked the second anniversary of the historic racketeering case. Seven others convicted on April 1, 2015, plan to ask for new trials once their attorneys and public defenders have read through the 22,000 pages of testimony from the trial that lasted seven months.
"It's going to go on for several years," said Bob Rubin, who represented former principal Dana Evans at trial but is not involved in her appeal.
The case started following news stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which began reporting in 2009 about suspicious test score improvements at struggling schools in low-income neighborhoods. In 2013, a Fulton County grand jury indicted former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall, who died of cancer before she could be tried, and 34 others of racketeering — operating a scheme to improve standardized test scores by helping students with answers or changing their wrong answers to correct ones. Twelve went to trial while the rest pleaded guilty and were sentenced to probation.
One of the 12 who were tried was acquitted. Two of the convicted former educators were also punished with probation because they admitted to their crimes before sentencing; they have completed their sentences.
Judge Jerry Baxter, who retired at the end of last year, sentenced the rest to prison terms ranging from one to three years.
Meanwhile, the district has undergone significant changes. Superintendent Meria Carstarphen was hired in 2014, pledging to rebuild the integrity of Atlanta Public Schools. New school board members were also elected.
And the district launched a program to help some of the students likely affected by the cheating, offering them tutoring and other services. About 2,200 students are now enrolled in that program, called Target 2021, reflecting the year in which the last of the eligible students are expected to graduate.
Ben Davis, who represented Cotman and is one of only two of the original trial attorneys still involved, thinks this case will bring significant changes in the law as well, especially in how Georgia’s racketeering statute is used.
“Some of the legal issues that came out of it haven’t been seen before,” he said. “I think the case is going to have a profound effect on Georgia law.”
The appeal that Davis and Gerald Griggs, Williamson’s attorney, filed four weeks ago says Baxter made a mistake when he explained the racketeering law to the jury by telling them they could deviate from what was written in the indictment.
“The issue is so clear cut we feel strongly that it will be overturned,” Davis said.
All the while, nine former educators wait to see if they will go to prison.
“I didn’t break any laws. I didn’t do anything unethical, and I ended up with a felony,” Cotman said.
Unlike the other co-defendants, Cotman went to trial twice.
The first time was on a single charge of tampering with a witness in the test cheating case. She was acquitted.
In the second trial, Cotman was one of 12 defendants.
Cotman was one of the three former regional administrators convicted of racketeering conspiracy.
“I heard everything they (jurors) heard. I heard people change their stories. I heard people give different testimony between my two trials. I never heard anyone say I cheated or encouraged anyone to cheat,” Cotman said. “I’m sitting there just waiting for it to be over and never imagining that I would be found guilty. I still struggle with how people can be held accountable for the actions of others … and to send people to prison.”
During that second trial, Cotman filed for bankruptcy and lost her house to foreclosure. Also during the trial, Cotman’s husband spent two weeks in ICU, adding to their expenses. She was taking care of her adult son who was diagnosed with schizophrenia just before the first trial. And she and her husband divorced because of the strain of the trial, she said.
Cotman now lives with relatives.
“It’s difficult to find employment having gone through this process,” she said. “Convicted as a felon, there aren’t many employers who will hire you. I do lots of odd things. Working for a non-profit, helping kids transition into college, helping (them with) college placement and (finding) financial aid. I Uber. I do all kinds of things. You have to survive.”
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